SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR FRIENDS
This *INSANE* email from Barnes & Noble WTF
β€”no more than 100 books and they start deleting??
β€”removing titles that don't meet minimum sales?

What the hell? I've been publishing since 2011... I have 145 titles.

AI deluge screwing us but still...it's war on indies.

the injury of indie authors being shoved off platforms because AI is sucking up all the storage space after the insult of those very works being stolen by AI corps to feed their slop machine

(D2D and B&N both)

ME TO B&N:
I've been publishing on Nook since 2011... I have 145 titles, a combination of novels, short stories, etc. So I'm pretty alarmed that you're suddenly limiting books to 100 titles. This is across two pennames. I am a prolific author. Is this new rule intended to drive prolific authors off your platform? I'm wondering if I should be publishing with B&N if you're going to start removing titles arbitrarily.

Please let me know how you will resolve this situation.
1/3

B&N REPLIES:
Hi Susan,
Wanted to reach out personally to assure you that this policy is not meant to drive authors like yourself–with career catalogs and pen names–from the site. We are really going after larger publishers and aggregators who bulk upload.

We intend to have exemptions and I have whitelisted your account so you can continue to publish uninterrupted.

I apologize for any confusion or worry.

Julie Braunschweiger
eCommerce Sr. Manager, B&N Press
2/3

I encourage everyone to email B&N and D2D right now... the more they sense the absolute panic this is causing in the indie world, the more likely they are to back off from draconian idiotic policies.
3/3
#writing #selfpublishing
@susankayequinn seems like the solution is that they should limit how many new titles they allow every year. People can be prolific, but they can't write 5 novels a year and maintain quality. They should have a derogation process for authors that are uploading to BN a large number of books that were published elsewhere.

@chantaryu2 I've written 5 novels in a year and they were high quality, thank you very much. Also it's "titles" so short stories, box sets, collections... I'm literally going to upload a 6-volume series of collected short stories that I've written over my entire career (plus new ones!) in the next few months.

Artificial limits like this just inhibit indie publishing creativity. And imagination.

AI slop uploading 200 titles on a single day is characteristically different.

@susankayequinn I emailed D2D and pointed out all the ways it hurts real authors and actually helps the genAI slop keep going (the fee itself punishes real authors who can't get seen through the slop while doesn't affect the sloppers who are already making money). It's ludicrous

@susankayequinn This almost makes sense... but it should be a "per period of time" measurement, and it should be manually reviewed instead of blanket banned.

Even a default approach of flagging unusually high volumes with an opportunity to explain/appeal/whatever is worlds better than a blanket ban. Make the outliers attest that they aren't using machine generation and blacklist them if they are shown to be lying πŸ™ƒ

@susankayequinn this is going to suck since I earn nowhere close to the $100 and I suck at marketing myself
@MisWiredKE I am outraged so much about this -- both B&N and D2D but D2D literally built their entire business on indies but they're really no better than the average scammer out there now
@susankayequinn yeah. I honestly joined D2D because it was an option to KDP that wouldn't require me to have upfront investment, especially for physical copies. But now I think just keeping it digital and hoping people join my Patreon is a more viable option.
@MisWiredKE whereas for me, every other week, I'm considering going entirely to print-only because I'm tired of my ebooks being pirated, fed into AI, and all the bullshit of the distributors and retailers shoving AI into my books

@susankayequinn

I just sent email to D2D about this. I find it especially galling that they are making those earning the least pay for those who make more money on their system.

Why not make it a subscription system if they need money so badly? That would be more honest.

@Firlefanz IDK about subscription (I loathe those generally) but you're right, it's very much punishing small authors, first-time authors, authors in lower-selling genres, etc. And it's just NUTS in terms of the longevity of their business as well. Sure, go ahead, absolutely STOP COLD any new authors from trying out this self-publishing thing to see if they can make a go of it and MAKE ALL YOUR FUTURE REVENUE. It's 100% corporate short-term bullshit mindset. They should be ashamed.

@susankayequinn

I agree.

They should be ASHAMED.

I use them for everything except Amazon and Google Play Store. I was so happy they finally finagled that contract with Bookshop.org.

And now this. It's so depressing.

@Firlefanz I *only* use them for Bookshop but if I was in your position, I would stop distributing your books through them (except for Bookshop) and go direct everywhere. And tell them. You're not going to support them with your sales if they're going to turn their backs on indies like this.

@susankayequinn

I use them for *everything* except Google and Amazon.

I *can* set up directly with Kobo and Tolino, but that's about it.

B&N demands a US checking account.
Apple demands a freaking Apple computer.

I *just* started using them for print through IngramSpark.

I am so freaking disappointed in Draft2Digital. I used to recommend them everywhere. I will no longer do that. (Yes, I told them that, too.)

@Firlefanz You should be able to go direct to IngramSpark (although I honestly don't know if it works for authors outside the US). B&N I understand -- they're a pain. Apple has long been that way, although I think there's a workaround now that doesn't require a Mac (I still use a Mac but I think the need for that went away a while ago): https://www.indiepublishinggroup.com/complete-guide-to-self-publishing-on-apple-books-for-authors/

(Kobo direct also allows you to apply for their promo and distribute to libraries)

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing on Apple Books for Authors

If you've been considering publishing your book on Apple Books, our complete guide to self-publishing on Apple Books will be perfect for you!

Indie Publishing Group

@susankayequinn

Yeah. I actually do sell the odd book on B&N. *sigh*

Biggest sales channel on D2D for me is Apple.

It's very good to know that Kobo distributes to libraries, though, that might actually convince me to go direct with them.

Funny enough, Google Play Store is now doing best for me.

So for now, I'll probably grit my teeth and stay on D2D, but it's high time we Indies team up and build our own sales platform.

And then D2D can forget their business.

@susankayequinn

I started with them to list with Apple. I'd been direct with them until they changed their policy and insisted I had to post a webpage with my address and phone number. Wasn't going to post my real address so I had to pay for a UPS address twice a year to remain direct. Going through D2D bypasses that requirement. I do make sales on Apple. $12 a year is cheaper than what I was paying UPS. And you can't go direct with bookshop--I tried. 😌

@Firlefanz

@susankayequinn heard from three different folks: the B&N 100-book limit doesn't apply to long-time prolific authors. Contact support.

@mwl I have already done so! But that's good to hear... but also not? What about the upcoming prolific authors? Maybe it won't have the impact on new authors (hello that could be their future revenue!) that the D2D stuff does, but what about minimum sales? How is an author supposed to get STARTED? Is it like some kind of Book Hunger Games now that if you don't make X sales (which of course they don't specify!) out of the gate, they'll pull your books!

It's just nuts.

(but thanks for the info!)

@susankayequinn I suspect retailers and aggregators will need to judge between AI and humans.

Which will end... poorly.

@mwl @susankayequinn

As a short-run strategy, the only thing I can think of as mitigation is what @mwl and some others are already doing: Diversify, build fans, sell directly whenever possible, encourage doing something other than exclusives with giant corps that don't have your interests in mind.

@StevenSaus @susankayequinn

A creator's only safety lies in business disintermediation. Highly recommended.

@mwl @susankayequinn

And federation when it comes to online stuff. Yup.

@susankayequinn

"sane people wouldn't publish more than 100 books." 

@mwl

writers: a notoriously sane bunch
self-published writers: writers but without the rules

@susankayequinn @mwl this really fucks with honest authors that actually have a lot of good output!

@kkarhan @mwl

and adds insult to injury given that a bunch of the titles they would delete were stolen by AI corps to feed into the slop machine

@mwl @susankayequinn I enjoyed a marketing preso by a young author with over 100 titles on Amazon just this weekend. Authors need to produce that much to stay afloat.
@susankayequinn It seems so self-contradictory to me. "You can only have 100 titles, if you try to have more than that we will delete titles. Also you better keep your sales up or we will also delete titles, causing your sales to drop, causing us to delete more titles."
@kaidenshi @susankayequinn they just want to findbways to weasle themselves out of smaller publishing contracts and maximize profits.

@kaidenshi
IT.IS.INSANE

I halfway think this "new policy" was written by AI

@susankayequinn That was my first thought: "AI" generated and slapped into place without a hint of review.
@kaidenshi B&N has also *always* been very biased against indies, and of course very corporate-driven. I was hoping they'd be a bulwark against Amazon but NOPE
@susankayequinn *sigh* And after I finally, after more than 10 years, got off my butt to load books on B&N. Not sure it's even worth the effort to continue if they're going to pull nonsense like this. >.>

@susankayequinn

Well that's Asimov's catalog fecked right to the curb.

@johntimaeus oh no it only applies to self-published authors! you know, the people who simultaneously don't count and account for a huge chunk of their ebook sales. Especially indies with over 100 titles!
@susankayequinn What the, and I can't stress this enough, actual fuck?!